The annual award is chosen by a panel of 12 Irish media professionals who 'deliberated at length' to choose what album represented 'the best of Irish music from the shortlist of 10 records released by Irish artists in 2013'. Their focus was not on sales or airplay, but 'simply and solely' on the music.
{Awayland} was the follow up to 2010's Becoming a Jackal album which was nomintaed for the Mercury Prize.
The full shortlist which featured And So I Watch You From Afar and Girls Names was:
And So I Watch You From Afar - All Hail Bright Futures (Sargent House)
Bell X1 – Chop Chop (Belly Up Records)
Girls Names – The New Life (Tough Love)
Kodaline – In A Perfect World (Sony Music)
Little Green Cars – Absolute Zero (Universal Music)
Mano Le Tough – Changing Days (Permanent Vacation)
My Bloody Valentine – MBV (MBV Records)
O Emperor – Vitreous (Big Skin)
Lisa O’ Neill – Same Cloth or Not (Song Seeds Records)
Villagers – {Awayland} (Domino)
Decided by the public, Orginal Rudeboys won the prize for Irish song of the year with 'Never Gonna Walk Away'
As well as a specially commissioned award Villagers also picked up a €10,000 cheque provided by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA).
